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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Shields, Hellickson, Kotchman up for Players Choice Awards tonight on MLB Network

Posted Nov 3, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Nov 3, 2011 at 06:11 PM

ROGER MOONEY
A trio of Rays have been nominated for Players Choice Awards, which will be announced from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight on the MLB Network.

Jeremy Hellickson is a finalist for the Outstanding Rookie in American League, James Shields is up for Outstanding AL Pitcher and Casey Kotchman was nominated for Comeback Player of the Year in the American League.

The awards are voted upon by the players, which added a special meaning last year when David Price was voted Outstanding Pitcher in the AL.

It’s going to be tough for Shields to follow Price’s win, being that Justin Verlander and Jared Weaver are also nominated. Verlander won the triple crown of pitching after leading the league in wins (24), ERA (2.40) and strikeouts (245).

Hellickson appears to have a good chance at being the top rookie. He was 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA. In those 10 loses, the Rays scored one or less runs nine times.

Also nominated are Kansas City corner infielder Eric Hosmer (.293, 19 home runs, 78 RBI and a .799 OPS) and Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo (.249, 29 home runs, 87 RBI and a .753 OPS).

Kotchman’s comeback season produced a .306 average, 10 home runs and 48 RBI. That after batting .217 with nine home runs and 51 RBI in 2010 for the Mariners. Kotchman also led the majors in fielding percentage (.998) for the fourth straight season.

But he’s up against Yankee pitcher Bartolo Colon, who after missing the 2010 season, went 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA and Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who after missing all by 18 games in 2010, came back strong with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs, a .321 average and 39 stolen bases.